Non-media Gift Ideas from CMCH

If you would rather not buy media-related gifts for the kids in your life, consider these suggestions to come up with a fun alternative they just might like!

This season, focus on the CHILD: 

Creative: Think creatively about who the child is and what makes him or her truly happy.

Homework: Study the nature, content, and age-appropriateness of gifts, especially media products, before buying.

Imagination: Provide a child’s growing mind with gifts to stimulate their imagination, creative growth and development.

Learning: Look for gifts that encourage problem-solving, creativity and positive social interaction.

Donate: Give the gift of giving.

Creative: Think creatively about who the child is and what makes him or her truly happy. Match your presents to the child’s specific likes and abilities instead of jumping on the current toy trend.

One way to do this is to make a gift tailored to each child. This will give you an opportunity to match your gift to the individual instead of responding only to what's being advertised. Here are some ideas.

• Make them their own coloring book, with pictures of things related to their interests or hobbies. Many websites have pages you can print to add to your book. Search for “coloring pages” plus any topic your child is interested in.
• Make a photo album or scrapbook of their activities over the past year. This can work for many age groups, but babies especially love photo albums.
• Make T-shirts that reflect their style. There are products that allow you to print iron-ons for T-shirts and services that will make a T-shirt from a picture.
• Make holiday ornaments.
• Edit the year's home movies into a video or DVD.
• Make a music mix of their favorite songs or songs you liked when you were their age.
• Write a story that stars your child.
• Make a gingerbread house for or with them.
• Arrange a scavenger hunt or treasure hunt just for them.

You can also encourage children to make gifts for others. Let them know that adults (especially grandparents and teachers!) often cherish and enjoy homemade gifts more than those that are purchased. Here are some ideas:

• Frame some of the child’s art work and give it to family.
• Find a craft project that the child can do and set aside a day to make gifts for their teachers and family members.
• Have the child make personalized magazine collage bookmarks for stocking stuffers using heavy cardstock and pictures or photos from magazines, greeting cards, or catalogs. After the child has cut out images, glue them onto the cardstock and trim any pictures that hang over the edge. Punch a hole in the top of the book mark and tie on a ribbon.

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Homework: Study the nature, content, and age-appropriateness of gifts, especially media products, before buying.

While you are thinking about gifts for the child, you'll want to consider what is appropriate for their age. You can check out screen shots from games and lyrics from songs before they make purchases. You can also read reviews of products to see what others have said about them. Parents should use their judgment to consider what will be best for their own child's development. CMCH has created a list of review websites to use when looking for more information before making a purchase.

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Imagination: Provide a child’s growing mind with gifts to stimulate their imagination, creative growth and development.

Often the simplest gifts are the ones that get kids to use their imaginations. See the list below for some ideas.

For younger children:

• Start a dress up bin with old costumes and vintage clothes.
• Build or arrange a puppet theater.
• Create kits designed around occupations for kids to pretend with, for example:
  • A doctor's kit with ace bandages, band-aids, printouts of a health checklist they can use, cereal for "medicine", and a bag to carry it all in. Add a few stuffed animals and this could be a veterinarian kit instead.
  • A wilderness explorer kit with binoculars, a tackle box, a magnifying glass, and a field guide to birds or other creatures.
  • An arts and crafts kit with different colors and textures of paper, various types of markers, glue, scissors, and other supplies.
  • A restaurant kit with menus, aprons, pads of paper for taking orders, sample credit cards you usually get in the mail, a chalk board for writing the day's specials, posterboard for the restaurant's sign, and cookbooks.
• If you'd rather purchase a gift, these ideas encourage the imagination as well:
  • Kitchen sets
  • Tents
  • Musical instruments
  • Music production software
  • Cameras (still and video)
  • Blocks
  • Mobiles
  • Sandboxes
  • Dolls
  • Stuffed Animals

For teens:

• High-quality art supplies or art kits, blank canvases, and scrapbooking materials will provide valuable creative outlets.
• Music, dance, or art lessons will introduce teens to new ways of expressing themselves.
• A digital camera will encourage them to exercise their creativity and to see their environment in new ways.
• Music or video editing software for the computer will allow teens to create their own media .

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Learning: Look for gifts that encourage problem-solving, creativity and positive social interaction.

Research shows that children learn from what they play, so think about what it is that you'd like them to learn (and what you don't want them to learn!) and choose related gifts. Gifts that encourage social interaction and relationship building are always good choices.

Board games are especially important for children's learning, as they create opportunities to learn about rules, turn-taking, and strategy. Here are some examples of gifts that encourage learning:

• Puzzles and board games
• Science kits, such as ant farms or aquariums
• Bicycle, tricycle, or unicycle
• Activity lessons (art, music, sports)
• Travel or a family day trip
• Sports equipment
• Educational software
• Kites
• Remote control kits
• Pets

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Donate: Give the gift of giving.

This holiday season, involve children on the giving end as well as the receiving end. Help them choose toys to donate to children in need, give them an opportunity to choose a charity you'll give money to in their honor, or have your family volunteer your time together.

The website MarkMaker offers a way for kids to choose the causes they're interested in supporting, including ways to help animals, other children, or the environment.

The websites Charity Navigator and Just Give offer a way to match charities to each person's interests.

>>See ideas for free gifts
>>See tips on how to choose media-related gifts